By Shawn Boburg, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J. — Two days after an email surfaced in January linking the George Washington Bridge lane closures to a deputy chief of staff in New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office — and with questions swirling about who else was involved — a top Port Authority executive who […]

Did you forget about “Bridgegate?” The Democratic National Committee (DNC) certainly hasn’t. It’s been exactly one year since the Bridgegate scandal launched, and Democrats are celebrating the occasion by holding a press conference and bombarding people who live near the George Washington Bridge with anti-Chris Christie ads. On September 9, 2013, the Port Authority of New York […]

By Shawn Boburg, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J. — Lawmakers investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closings are going after the telephone records of a top aide of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, employing a new tactic in an apparent challenge to the aide’s earlier sworn testimony. Dozens of subpoenas issued by the state […]

By Christopher Maag, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J. — Of the dead we know so little. Their names, usually. The clothes they wore. That they lost hope, and where. Richard Elliot Stone was one of the latest; he jumped off the George Washington Bridge on July 20, just before sunset. We know he wore […]

By Shawn Boburg, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J. — A top Christie official who was among the first to learn of allegations last September that the George Washington Bridge lane closures were potentially illegal testified Thursday that she didn’t inform the governor or her other superiors because she chalked up the allegations to infighting […]

By Stephanie Akin, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J. — New Jersey state officials improperly withheld records related to the investigations of George Washington Bridge lane closings from two reporters from The Record, a Superior Court judge ruled in Mercer County on Wednesday. In a mixed 22-page decision, Judge P.J. Innes ordered the state to […]

By John Reitmeyer and Michael Phillis, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) TRENTON, N.J. — The law firm New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hired in the wake of the George Washington Bridge controversy has no limit on what it can charge the state after already billing taxpayers $3.3 million for its first two months of work. And the […]

By Melissa Hayes, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) TRENTON, N.J.—Gov. Chris Christie said New Jersey’s budget challenges and the ongoing George Washington Bridge controversy won’t stop him from traveling the country to support candidates as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Christie, speaking at a news conference during the association’s quarterly meeting at the Waldorf Astoria in […]

Chris Christie is still thinking about running for president in 2016. In perhaps one of the most straightfoward answers the embattled New Jersey governor has given on the topic, Christie responded to CBS News’ Bob Schieffer’s question of whether he was thinking of running for president and when he would make a decision: “Yes, and later.” Adamant […]

By Herb Jackson, The Record (Hackensack, NJ) WASHINGTON — “Yes.” With that one word, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told a friendly Washington, D.C., audience Wednesday that he is still thinking about running for president, even as dual crises continue to bedevil his administration. And with another word he told the high-profile crowd when he’ll make […]

By Shawn Boburg and Melissa Hayes, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) TRENTON, N.J. — The Christie administration was slow to acknowledge the true motive behind the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge because of a betrayal by a Port Authority executive who repeatedly claimed that a legitimate traffic study was the reason Fort Lee was gridlocked […]

By Melissa Hayes and John Reitmeyer, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) TRENTON, N.J. — An aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie detailed the inner workings of the political outreach office at the heart of the George Washington Bridge scandal, telling lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday about a supervisor who seemed to take orders rather than […]

By Melissa Hayes, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) TRENTON, N.J. — A former aide in New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office is scheduled to appear before lawmakers Tuesday at the first in the latest series of hearings as the investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures continues. Christina Renna is expected to answer questions about her […]

By Shawn Boburg, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J.—Federal prosecutors have summoned or expressed interest in talking to up to a half-dozen current Port Authority officials as a grand jury investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures accelerates, sources familiar with the matter said. The contact suggests the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in […]

By Melissa Hayes, John Reitmeyer and Michael Linhorst, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) TRENTON, N.J. — More than 400 pages of documents made public Monday present a detailed picture of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s intertwined government and political operations, a network run by people so close to him that he became physically ill when reading a […]

By Shawn Boburg, The Record HACKENSACK, N.J. — The Manhattan district attorney has launched a wide-ranging investigation into the Port Authority, issuing a subpoena for communications between New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s office and agency officials, a source familiar with the matter said Saturday. The development signaled the opening of a new legal front in […]

By Michael Linhorst and Melissa Hayes, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J.—Democrats leading the panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures met with their lawyer Thursday to decide their next move, one day after a judge ruled that they could not compel two central players in the controversy to hand over documents. Also weighing on […]

By Shawn Boburg, The Record (Hackensack, NJ) HACKENSACK, NJ—Two key figures in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal do not have to comply with legislative subpoenas demanding that they turn over documents, a judge ruled Wednesday, delivering a setback to lawmakers whose probe linked the closures to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office earlier this […]

By Shawn Boburg, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) HACKENSACK, N.J.—Two key figures in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal do not have to comply with legislative subpoenas demanding that they turn over documents, a judge ruled Wednesday, delivering a setback to lawmakers whose probe linked the closures to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office earlier this […]

By John Reitmeyer, The Record TRENTON, N.J. — The co-chairs of the legislative committee investigating the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge say they want to see transcripts of the interviews conducted by the lawyers Gov. Chris Christie hired to compile the report that cleared him of any role in the closures. The panel could […]

By Melissa Hayes and Karen Sudol, The Record (Hackensack, NJ) HACKENSACK, NJ — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is back to the town hall events that helped create his image as a straight-talking, tough-walking politician not afraid to mix it up with the people who elected him. But now, nearly three months into the biggest scandal […]

By Kim Lueddeke, The Record (Hackensack, NJ) HACKENSACK, NJ — Bill Baroni, who resigned from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey amid scandal last year, is back at work. Hill Wallack LLP, one New Jersey’s leading law firms, announced this week that Baroni has joined the firm. Baroni previously served as the deputy […]